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I sure hope that TSA employees receive regular payment bonuses for their job because it’s definitely one of the most nerve-wracking occupations at the moment. They are obligated to follow a set of incredibly strict regulations, and a single mistake can prove to be dangerous or even catastrophic. But, aside from being awfully stressful, this job also comes with another amazing feature: human contact.

When working with such a big influx of passengers going back and forth between flights, you are bound to encounter all kinds of people. After writing up this list of the 16 Most Insane Things Found By Airport Security On Travelers, I’m tempted to say that TSA workers have seen it all. Don’t believe me? By all means, read on.

1. Dead Snakes

I’m resisting the urge to make a Snakes On A Plane joke. It’s too easy. According to the TSA blog, a passenger alerted the explosive substance detector’s alarm. When airport security checked the traveler’s luggage, they discovered bags filled with liquid and dead venomous snakes. The best part is that, legally, there was nothing wrong with that, since there’s no law against deceased snakes flying on a plane.

2. Saw Blades

Bringing sharp objects with you on a plane is vehemently forbidden. This is why, usually, when someone is caught carrying these types of objects with them, this is either because they’ve never been in an airport before or they have some scores to settle if you catch my drift. In this case, it was shockingly neither. Those were Christmas gifts!

3. Grenades

Let’s say that you weren’t aware that you are forbidden to bring on board liquids that go over a certain limit. That’s understandable. Let’s say you didn’t know you can’t bring razors either. On a good day, we’ll say that’s also understandable. But grenades? This is what a passenger, who was caught carrying a grenade in his baggage, claimed.

4. Cannonball

Given how quickly this is escalating, I’m hoping number ten won’t be something like a tank or a fully armed AK-47 hidden among socks. Anyway, an actual cannonball was found in a luggage, and it caused so much panic that the respective area of the airport was evacuated, and a team of bombing technicians and explosive specialists was summoned. Fortunately, it turned out to be harmless.

5. Cellphone (Stun Gun)

Someone disguised a stun gun into a cell phone and thought they could casually carry it through airport security. You can barely get through airport security with some hand lotion, let alone a stun gun.

6. Powder Horn

As aesthetically pleasing this horn might be, it was actually very dangerous. Discovered at Little Rock, within a carry-on baggage, it hid roughly three ounces of black powder, which is incredibly flammable.

7. Chastity Belt

Uh… So, apparently, someone was so worried about the integrity of their chastity, that they decided to take a page out of the medieval book and wear a belt to protect it. Needless to say, the checkpoint gate alarms couldn’t have possibly known about the passenger’s noble intentions.

8. Fish

From the “animals on planes” category, we bring you: beings of Earth’s seas and oceans. Unlike the snakes, though, these 163 tropical fish and the other approximately 70 aquatic species were still alive and kicking. The traveler was allegedly flying them so they would inhabit a big aquarium. The TSA disagreed, confiscating them and passing them to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

9. Shurikens

Found at more than one airport checkpoint in the USA, shurikens are weapons that were famously used by ninjas. There are so many questions here. Are these people collecting them? Are they criminals with a fine taste in weaponry? Are they actual ninjas? If so, the fact that they travel via plane kind of shatters the mystery surrounding them.

10. Minefield

You thought a grenade and a razor were bad? What about a whole minefield, full of replica claymore mines?

11. VCR Filled With Smartphones

When the TSA began thinking that there was something suspicious about a particular VCR that a passenger was transporting, upon cracking it open, they discovered that they had a good reason for it. Next to a VHS tape were lined up twenty-three smartphones, all wrapped one by one in aluminum foil and taped to the VCR unit. Even though this was a painfully obvious case of black marketing, the traveler got the green light to board them on the plane, since they weren’t considered to be dangerous.

12. Grenade Launcher

Found in a luggage at Seattle Tacoma, this grenade launcher probably belonged to someone who was going to meet up with the other fellows that had been caught with grenades on them. An eye for an eye, a grenade for a launcher.

13. Bear Spray

A passenger was stopped by security at the Newark airport and it was discovered that he was carrying bear spray in his sock. The world is unpredictable, so it never hurts to be prepared at all times for the moment that bear apocalypse is going to kick in.

14. Pigeons

No, they weren’t dead. No, they weren’t in the passenger’s baggage. A man was arrested at the Melbourne airport after it was discovered that he transported two live pigeons in his trousers.

15. Illegal Content In A Grenade

Someone thought that the best way to sneak an illegal thing through airport security is by hiding it inside another illegal thing. Even the TSA employees were bewildered by the passenger’s choice of transportation.

16. Human Skull

Upon the inspection of a baggage, TSA agents working at Fort Lauderdale found actual human remains inside of several clay pots. The passengers that were transporting them claimed they had no idea about the sinister contents, but the area was still considered a crime scene afterward and thoroughly inspected.

Being a TSA agent is an… interesting job to say the least. As proven by the 16 Most Insane Things Found By Airport Security, when an alarm goes off, you can find a variety of things: some hilarious, some incredibly weird, and some able to potentially cause a hazard of proportions. Therefore, with all these things in mind, think carefully if you can put up with situations like these if you’re planning on getting a job at an airport’s security gates.

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.